iPhone 7 owners say phones producing 'hissing' sound under heavy task loads

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone
Some early iPhone 7 and 7 Plus adopters are complaining of an audible "hissing" sound when the devices' A10 processors run into heavy demands.




The issue was first brought to public attention by 512 Pixels' Stephen Hackett, and has since been pointed out by a number of people online, such as TechCrunch's Darrell Etherington. Hackett commented that after calling AppleCare, support staff decided to offer a replacement unit.

Some previous iPhone models have allegedly experienced similar trouble. It's unclear how widespread the current situation is, or which exact components may be responsible, since there's nothing on the A10 -- or anything else in the iPhone 7/7 Plus, short of the audio system -- that should be capable of directly generating noise.



The issue could involve the RF transmitter, or some other form of interference with the speaker system.

Whether or not the hissing is common, it might imply a defect with the first batch of phones, for which Apple would have to offer a number of free replacements. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were only launched on Friday.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 99
    juanguapojuanguapo Posts: 75member
    Coil whine? :confused: 
    anton zuykovdysamoriadoozydozen
  • Reply 2 of 99
    VanillaVanilla Posts: 20member
    Duh, it's the cooling fan.
    tallest skilaaron sorensondysamoriaaldolinixzudoozydozenjony0
  • Reply 3 of 99
    Roxy BalboaRoxy Balboa Posts: 55member
    Tell these iPhone 7 users to first get their hearing checked.
    watto_cobraboopthesnootjony0
  • Reply 4 of 99
    aylkaylk Posts: 54member
    Snakegate!
    edited September 2016 jdwanton zuykovtmayMacProdoozydozenfastasleepjony0
  • Reply 5 of 99
    gregg thurmangregg thurman Posts: 456member
    I'd almost guarantee that this will escalate into a "hissingGate" news avalanche, and will generate more media interest than did Samsung's exploding fireball Galaxy S7.
    watto_cobraanton zuykovlkruppxmhillxjahbladedoozydozenneil andersonjony0
  • Reply 6 of 99
    apple headapple head Posts: 86member
    How lovely! Maybe the iPhone blows up too! If it does, it is undoubtedly better at it than Samsung. Just because you do something first doesn't mean it's better. 

    You know, if Apple made a phone that blows up, it would just be cooler than Samsung's. It just would be. 
    dasanman69xmhillxclexmanaldolinidoozydozen
  • Reply 7 of 99
    napoleon_phoneapartnapoleon_phoneapart Posts: 552member
    Tell these iPhone 7 users to first get their hearing checked.

  • Reply 8 of 99
    r00fus1r00fus1 Posts: 65member
    I have an iPhone7+ 256GB on order, and I'm especially sensitive to noise (and tend to use my phone at night, etc). If this is as annoying as they say, I'm definitely returning mine. I have a really nice iPhone6 that doesn't hiss, I'll keep that if need be.
    dysamoriaaldolinimgsarchdoozydozenben20
  • Reply 9 of 99
    emoelleremoeller Posts: 588member
    I ran a very intensive Turboviewer 3d model on my iPhone 7 256Gb.  No hiss or noise at all.  This model runs better/faster on the iP7 then on my Air2.
    watto_cobrapscooter63doozydozencaliEsquireCatsneil andersonjony0
  • Reply 10 of 99
    analogjackanalogjack Posts: 1,073member
    Dinah-Moe Hiss.
    tiger2wlymjony0
  • Reply 11 of 99
    wdowellwdowell Posts: 234member
    Calm down everybody - it's the sprinkler system, which kicks in when the battery gets warmer. Designed by Samsung batteries.
    baconstangwatto_cobraxmhillxjkichlinedoozydozentallest skil
  • Reply 12 of 99
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    I'm guessing, heat under high load heats air quick, air takes more volume, escapes through a tiny hole (see balloon).
    Maybe Apple even set up some kind of valve for that. Probably a mix of good hearing, and a bit more noise from some of those valves.
    If the phone is less packed, the air could be heated and dissipate to cool down inside the phone.
    Eventually this should stop as pressure equalizes. When loads go down, some air seeps back in (as cooler air takes less space, pressure goes down), more loads some repeat.
    In non sealed phones you'd have the same thing but since the "holes" are bigger you'd have no sound.
    edited September 2016 dysamoriapscooter63doozydozenbadmonk
  • Reply 13 of 99
    ericlmercerericlmercer Posts: 103member
    Air escaping a water-tight encasement as its two fast cores heat up?
    xmhillxdysamoriadoozydozencali
  • Reply 14 of 99
    zimmermannzimmermann Posts: 345member
    ericlmercer said:
    Air escaping a water-tight encasement as its two fast cores heat up?
    Indeed! The only other way to make the phone water tight would be vacuum insides. 
  • Reply 15 of 99
    baconstangbaconstang Posts: 1,157member
    "The Revenge of the Headphone Jack".... ;)
    jdwrevenantxmhillxclexmandoozydozencaliviclauyyc
  • Reply 16 of 99
    mighuelmighuel Posts: 11member
    I hear somewhat similar very faint noise coming from my macbook pro when ssd is put under heavy load (like installing os update or something involving lots of small read/write operations). Back when I was wondering what's going on I googled it and found out that it was fairly common thing to happen with ssd drives. Could it be possible that the sound is actually coming from ssd and not A10? The guy who recorded that clip was restoring from backup so that would put some pressure on the ssd.
    cali
  • Reply 17 of 99
    applesauce007applesauce007 Posts: 1,704member
    I don't hear it on my phone.
    It's really a superb device.
    watto_cobraxmhillxnolamacguyDeelronmontrosemacsdoozydozencali
  • Reply 18 of 99
    arcixtarcixt Posts: 1member
    Huston, this is iPhone 7, we are venting something into space
    mazda 3steejay2012doozydozenSpamSandwich
  • Reply 19 of 99
    dogolacadogolaca Posts: 20member
    Don't load it that way.
    tnet-primary
  • Reply 20 of 99
    sergiozsergioz Posts: 338member
    This can easily be fixed with update! 
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